‘Innocent man’ beats kidnapping charge

San Diego  One of the men prosecutors have linked to a dangerous drug-trafficking crew known as Los Palillos prevailed in court, getting a jury to acquit him of kidnapping for ransom.

If Armando Rodriguez had been convicted of that charge, and three others he faced in trial, he could have been sent to prison for life. Instead, after several days of deliberations, the jury decided this week that Rodriguez was not guilty of kidnapping, and deadlocked over whether he was guilty of conspiracy to kidnap.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Rogers dismissed the latter count for insufficient evidence, as well as charges of attempted murder on a peace officer and shooting at an inhabited dwelling. Because the charges were dismissed with prejudice, they cannot be refiled.

Rodriguez later walked out of jail a free man.

“This was a defense attorney’s nightmare — an innocent man,” said Gloria Collins, who represented Rodriguez, reflecting on her feelings while preparing the case and awaiting the jury’s verdict.

Collins, who spent 25 years as a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office before switching to criminal defense, argued in court that Rodriguez was not involved in any of the ransom kidnappings, killings and other criminal acts attributed to Los Palillos.

She said the prosecution’s case relied on unreliable testimony from a witness who struck a deal with the District Attorney’s Office in exchange for his cooperation in several other trials involving accused Los Palillos defendants.

“None of us want to see an innocent man on trial,” Collins said. “This one got to me.”

The District Attorney’s Office stands by it prosecution.

“After a lengthy investigation and thorough review of this case, the District Attorney’s Office believed we had sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant was guilty of attempted murder, kidnapping and conspiracy,” said prosecutor Christopher Lawson in statement.

He thanked the jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence.

Rodriguez, 34, was not among the 17 defendants indicted in 2009 on felony charges including murder and kidnapping. The group includes U.S. and Mexican citizens.

Three defendants have been tried and convicted on felony charges.

Jorge Rojas Lopez and Juan Francisco Estrada Gonzalez, the alleged bosses of Los Palillos, are currently on trial in a death penalty case that could last up to a year.

Another death penalty trial for two more defendants is expected to begin after that.

Prosecutors have argued that Los Palillos — Spanish for “toothpicks” — began as an enforcement crew for the Arellano Félix Organization in Tijuana.

After the death of the group’s leader in 2002, Los Palillos members moved across the border to San Diego County.

Between 2004 and 2007, the group kidnapped several people and held them in “safe houses” around South County while their families gathered ransom money, prosecutors said.

Nine people were killed. The bodies were ditched along roadsides, left to rot in abandoned vehicles or dissolved in vats of acid.

Rodriguez was accused in two incidents: a kidnapping attempt in September 2005 and a kidnapping for ransom in January 2007, both in Chula Vista.

According to court documents, prosecutors said Rodriguez and other accused Los Palillos members conducted surveillance around Sept. 26, 2005, outside a man’s house, but Rodriguez told the others he couldn’t be there the next day because he had to work a trucking job.

A day or so later, the group members tried to confront the victim outside his home, but he ran inside.

The would-be kidnappers then sped off in a red Chevy Suburban, which a Chula Vista police officer soon spotted.

A pursuit ensued and multiple shots were fired at the officer’s vehicle. He was not hurt.

Prosecutors argued that Rodriguez and other defendants conducted a successful kidnapping two years later.

A woman was used to lure the victim, who had ties to the Arellano Félix Organization, away from a gym and into a trap set by Los Palillos.

The victim was abducted and held for 22 days in a house on Garber Avenue in Chula Vista. His family paid $200,000 to $300,000 ransom before he was released.

Collins said she spoke to jurors after her client was acquitted of the kidnapping charge.

She said they told her they could not believe testimony from the prosecution’s key witness without much more corroboration.

“Juries always get it right,” she said.

Collins said her client’s family, including his ex-wife and daughter, had been supportive throughout the trial.

His mother fasted while the jury deliberated.

Rodriguez plans to go back to working in as a truck driver, the attorney said.